Trini airline former CEO says ATRs 'not mission capable,' report says

Thu, Jan 7th 2016, 10:04 PM

As The Bahamas continues along the path of acquiring five aircraft to replace its aging fleet of Bombardier Dash 8s from French manufacturer Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) — at a cost of $100 million, borrowed from local banks — it appears that the CEO of another Caribbean airline that made the exact same choice has only very recently may have had second thoughts.

Trinidad & Tobago's BusinessDay has reported that the former CEO of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Michael Di Lollo had considered replacing CAL’s ATR fleet with comparable turboprops sourced from Bombardier following the former's persistent reliability problems.

It is reported that in his 2016 strategic plan, Di Lollo described the ATRs as “not mission capable” after they suffered from frequent AOG (aircraft on ground) occurrences. On his recommendation, overtures were made to the Bombardier about sourcing Dash 8-400s to replace the carrier's fleet of five ATR72-600s.

Aircraft on Ground (AOG) is a term in aviation maintenance indicating that a problem is serious enough to prevent an aircraft from flying.

Dionne Ligoure, CAL Head of Corporate Communications, told Guardian Business from Trinidad that CAL’s fleet is under “constant evaluation,” and that the airline is “always looking at its options.”

“I can confirm that no definitive requirements have been made in respect of replacements,” she said.

Confirming that Di Lollo retired from CAL for “personal reasons,” Ligoure told Guardian Business the ATRs are serviceable and that CAL was satisfied with the planes.

Caribbean Airlines ordered nine ATR72-600s in 2010 to replace its five Dash 8-300s. The ATR72s are currently used on Caribbean Airlines' air-bridge services from Port of Spain to Tobago locally and Bridgetown, Grenada, and St. Lucia Vigie regionally. The purchase of five ATR craft for $100 million by Bahamasair took many by surprise, and at least one member of the aviation community has questioned why the national flag-carrier needs these particular planes to replace its aging fleet of Dash 8s.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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